The Running Man
by Ryah Ignis
Summary: Once you take the Doctor's hand, he never lets go. Not really. Sarah Jane has met more versions of the renegade Time Lord then most other companions combined, but nothing could have ever prepared her for this. The man in the leather jacket who shows up on her doorstep fresh off a regeneration cannot be the Doctor. Spans the 9th and 10th regenerations.
1. Chapter 1

**The Running Man  
****Old Friends and New Faces**

Her heart leapt long before her brain had time to categorize the sound. But there was no way that she could possibly be right. Sarah Jane had convinced herself long ago that she'd never hear that sound again.

Her pounding heart indicated otherwise, though, so she ran out into the rain-slicked street at one o'clock in the morning. Sure enough, there it stood as if it had been there all along. She grinned and ran up to the door, paying no mind to the rain that soaked her pajamas or the cool, rough pavement beneath her bare feet. The only thing that mattered was that he had come back.

The door opened, and instantly, with a twist of her gut, Sarah Jane knew that something was very, very wrong. The inside of the TARDIS was smoking, and there was no way the man in the tarnished Victorian-era coat could be her Doctor. His eyes were haunted and empty, nothing like the childish wonderment she knew.

Those cold eyes locked on hers and the man who surely wasn't the Doctor tried to form words, but he couldn't. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and his knees gave out. Sarah Jane darted forward and caught him just in time.

"Come on, now, get up," she said.

He didn't answer her. Sarah Jane eased him out of the doorway. Thankfully, the TARDIS seemed to realize that closing the door was not an option with the man in her arms, so the door swung shut on its own. She began the long trek to her house dragging him with her. Doctor or not, Sarah Jane was not the kind of person to leave a clearly injured man lying in her front lawn. Her feet protested, the ground digging into her skin, but she kept going. Finally, she reached the front door and hauled her load through it. There was no chance of her getting him up the steps, so she settled him on the couch in her living room instead.

"What am I going to do with you?" she asked his sleeping form.

Briefly, she considered taking him to a hospital and letting professionals deal with him, but it would be fairly obvious he was an alien if they discovered his other heart. No, he'd have to stay.

She knelt beside him and checked him over for damage. The regeneration (if this was the Doctor, which part of her still doubted) had taken care of the injuries that had ripped up his jacket. His hands, though, were riddled with horrible burns which she guessed were caused the by the control panel overheating. Sarah Jane got to her feet and retrieved her bath robe from her bedroom. She wrapped him in a sort of fluffy pink cocoon and then collapsed in the armchair across from him.

"What happened to you, Doctor?"

~o0o~

A scream tore Sarah Jane from her sleep. She jerked upright, hands clenched into fists, ready for a fight. A price of running with the Doctor. The man cried out again, but it wasn't pain. He was dreaming. Sarah Jane sprang up and took his hand.

"No!" he bellowed, lashing out with his foot.

The pretty sea-glass blue lamp sitting on her bookshelf took the brunt of his fear and flew across the room. Clear shards decorated the floor in a random mosaic.

"Shh, shh," she soothed.

He stopped thrashing at the sound of her voice and his shouts subsided. Tears seeped out from under his eyelids. Sarah Jane was suddenly seized by icy fear. In all the years she had known him, the Doctor had always been perfectly composed, even jovial when faced with a deadly situation. What had happened to this Doctor, that a simple nightmare would reduce him to this?

"No!"

"It's all right. It's all right."

His eyes shot open, electric blue and terrified, but clearly not seeing her.

"Help them."

"I will," she said, knowing full well that whoever he wanted helped was long gone.

His eyes shut again and he sank back into the sofa. Sarah Jane stayed by his side for another hour, but he didn't move or say another word.

She stumbled back to her armchair and fell back asleep.

~o0o~

The Doctor awoke with a start, eyes flying open. Almost of its own accord, his fist clenched. He tried to get up, but found that his feet were ensnared in…a fluffy bath robe?

He frowned, and tried to think back. Everything was always fuzzy after a regeneration. Regeneration! He'd regenerated, but why? Fire seared in his memory and he flinched as if it still burned his skin. Fire…why fire?

It was like someone had punched him in the gut when he realized why. Get a grip, he chided himself. You're the Doctor, get a grip.

He looked about the room, anything to distract himself. It was pretty standard as far as living rooms went, but a picture hanging on the wall caught his eye.

He knew that scarf.

Knowing it would help him figure out where (and, more importantly, when) he was, the Doctor disentangled himself from the bath robe and got to his feet. He crept across the room to the picture frame, careful not to disturb the woman sleeping peacefully in the armchair across from him. When had the picture been taken? He recognized, with a start, one of his former regenerations with a silly grin on his face, still wrapped up in that ridiculous scarf. Beside him, laughing at the cameraman (no doubt it had been Harry to take the picture) was Sarah Jane. He glanced back and forth from the owner of the house to the picture, trying to reconcile his mental image of the girl who'd snuck on to his TARDIS looking for a scoop with the tired woman sitting on the armchair.

He retreated to his sofa and waited for her to wake up.

~o0o~

The Doctor didn't have to wait long. She woke only two minutes after he did.

"It's 1980," she said by way of greeting.

She could tell this Doctor didn't have much use for hellos or other pleasantries.

"So it's been four years for you."

She nodded tersely. Had it really been that long? Not a day went by that she didn't think about the stars.

"And you?"

"Twenty-five."

She gave a low whistle. "Regeneration?"

"Nine."

"Someone's not been careful enough," she said, shaking her head.

An awkward silence descended over the pair. Sarah Jane ticked off the seconds in her head. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three…

"You're twenty-nine?"he asked.

She'd had enough of beating around the bush. No matter how painful it might be for him, she needed to know what had happened.

"Doctor, what happened to you?"

His gaze slowly slid from hers to his hands, convulsing violently in his lap.

"Same old same old."

She narrowed her eyes. "Doctor—"

"You don't need to mother me, Sarah Jane. I'm nine-hundred years—"

"Then stop coming to me!" she shouted, leaping to her feet, feeling all the resentment and annoyance that usually vanished when he arrived. "You're ruining my life, Doctor! Stay in it or stay out of it. Every time you come here it's for a reason, you need my help. I'm tired of giving it, Doctor. The moment I begin to forget, you waltz back in my life like it's been five minutes rather than five years so I can't move on because there's always a chance you'll come back. It's not fair."

She took a deep breath and calmed herself much faster than she would have before.

"You need to get those burns treated," she said stiffly, ignoring his protest that the regeneration would take care of it.

She left the living room as quickly as she could and entered the kitchen. She needed a moment to think without him present. Mechanically, she filled a bowl with icy water and retrieved some gauze from a first aid kit she had stowed under the sink. (She could never be too careful—running with the Doctor seemed to make her more susceptible to alien attacks.) Careful not to spill the water, she reentered the living room and sat down next to him on the couch.

"Soak your hands," she ordered.

He followed orders and dunked them under the water. The burns looked a little less threatening beneath the surface.

"Gallifrey is gone."

Nothing could have prepared her for that. She stopped unwinding the bandages she held and stared at him. How could anything ever be truly gone for a Time Lord? As he always said, everything had its time. If Gallifrey had met its, he wouldn't be one to argue.

"What?"

"Time lock," he said. "It's like it never existed—like they never existed. Every advancement, every achievement, every good deed, just gone!"

She pulled his hands out of the bowl and toweled them off the best she could, wincing sympathetically all the way.

"Who did it?" she asked once she realized that he would never open up on his own. "Cybermen? Daleks?"

Sarah Jane wrapped his hands finger by finger in the gauze. It was a long moment before he lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. All the breath in her lungs exited with a woosh.

"Doctor?" she asked softly, finishing the bandaging with practiced fingers.

"I had no choice."

Time seemed to freeze. She stared at him in abject horror. He had…but, no, he'd never do that, no matter how bad things got, because he didn't like violence, the Doctor.

"You shouldn't help me," he said, pushing her hand away, nearly sending the bowl of water to the floor. "It's too—"

"Dangerous? When have I ever cared?" she asked, taking his hand.

He closed his eyes, as if remembering dozens of people that had said the same thing.

"You should."

Her eyes stung at the thought of an entire culture wiped from existence. Even when Earth had burned, their legacy had lived on in the human's descendants. The only place Gallifrey existed was in memory, and even that would diminish with time.

"What happened?"

His voice cracked as he began. The war, from what she could gather, had been bloody. The Doctor, her Doctor, the man who hated having to use weapons, had fought. His voice slowed as he described the end, pulling the trigger. She realized, with another wrench of her gut, that he had expected to die with his people.

"The TARDIS was launched away," he said. "I tried to get her to go back, but she wouldn't listen."

"She was protecting you."

"The control panel was burning," he said, waggling his bandaged fingers to make his point. "Next thing I know, I'm here."

"You regenerated."

"I'd noticed," he replied drily. "I didn't think I was bleeding that badly."

He picked at the tattered jacket he still wore. In the light, Sarah Jane could see that the edges of the rips were crimson stained as well as black from soot.

He got to his feet. Sarah Jane leapt up alongside him and grabbed him tightly by the wrist.

"Don't go running off."

~o0o~

"I'm just getting a new jacket," he said, easing her off of him.

"I'm warning you, Doctor," she said, her voice warbling embarrassingly. "If you leave, you can bet that sonic screwdriver of yours that the next time you land on my porch needing help, you won't be getting any."

He nodded and headed for the door. What had happened to the Sarah Jane he knew? An annoying voice in the back of his mind whispered that maybe he should do exactly what she suggested. Stay with her or stay away from her.

"How are you?" he asked the TARDIS, touching the blue door.

She answered with a dull affirmative. She was all right, there was no external damage. Well, that made two of them. The Doctor knew that he'd never get used to the big, gaping _emptiness_ that filled his head. There had been times that he'd resented the Time Lord's presence in the back of his mind. Now he craved it. The only thing that kept him grounded was the brush of the TARDIS so that he knew he was not completely alone.

He pushed open the door. It took a couple of blinks to convince his brain that it was the TARDIS and he hadn't stepped into the wrong time travelling police box. The control room was completely remodeled.

"I suppose it's up to you," he said grudgingly, making his way to the exceptionally large wardrobe.

Upon seeing the bright clothes lining the wall, he groaned. Where was he going to find clothing for the last of the Time Lords in a place like that?

~o0o~

Despite the Doctor's word that he wouldn't leave, Sarah Jane still listened intently for the sound of a vanishing TARDIS. She hadn't been kidding about not helping again. She resented the Doctor as much as she loved him. He couldn't keep doing this.

She did up the guest room for him while she waited. The flowered wallpaper probably wasn't his type, but there wasn't much she could do about that. She dumped the fake flowers out of their vase and into the closet. The bed sheets were clean, if a bit dusty, but she didn't think he'd mind.

"What are you doing?" she chided herself.

He'd just lost everything. He didn't care about dust or flowers. What the Doctor needed was a safe place to rest, complete the regeneration and pull himself together. Part of her couldn't help but fuss over him, though she knew it was the last thing he wanted.

The door opened and closed again. Sarah Jane couldn't hold back the grin that crept up her face. He hadn't left!

"Sarah Jane?" he called, a note of panic in his voice.

Stupid! He probably thought she'd been abducted or something. She should have told him what she was doing.

"I'm right upstairs," she said.

The stairs creaked as he made his way up. Most people would have been annoyed by the loud floorboards, but Sarah Jane thought they added character to the house.

For the first time, she really examined his new face. He had a rather large nose, and a pair of ears to match, but as with all his other incarnations, there was something about him that made you want to trust him. She couldn't get over his eyes. Electric blue, like she'd observed the night before, but empty, not brimming with life. The Doctor's eyes had always been a constant for her. No matter what color, shape or size they were, they retained a sort of old wisdom but youthful wonderment at the same time.

She took in the new clothing as well. There was a darkly colored jumper, possibly green (she couldn't tell in this lighting) underneath a worn leather jacket that fit as if he'd worn it for years. His fists were plunged deep in the pockets, and she had a feeling they'd be like that a lot of the time. He wore dark jeans and sensible dark shoes. Everything about the ensemble screamed 'Don't touch me.'

He gave her a look, as if daring her to say something. She offered a weak smile instead.

"I fixed the guest room up," she said.

~o0o~

Well, it certainly wasn't his type, but it would do. The wallpaper was at least a decade out of date (no doubt placed there before Sarah Jane had bought the house) and the mismatch of furniture wasn't going to be winning her any awards, but it was a place to stay that wasn't the TARDIS. After the horrific events of the past twenty-four hours, the idea of staying in the ship where it had happened made him sick.

"Get some more sleep."

"Doctor's orders?" he asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension.

She cracked a small smile. "Doctor's orders."

He wanted to thank her, but he couldn't find the words and she was gone before he had the chance. Sarah Jane—his Sarah Jane—really was something else.

**This story takes place in 1980, as stated in the chapter. For Sarah Jane, it's been four years since The Hand of Fear and her leaving the TARDIS. The Doctor is fresh off the Time War, and if you're looking at human time from however many years since he met Ian and Barbara, it's about 2005 for the Doctor. **

**In 1983 (three years after the events of this story) Sarah Jane will run into the Doctor again during the story The Five Doctors. Knowing the fate of Gallifrey, it's a little difficult for her to keep quiet, but she does, because its destruction is a fixed point that the Doctor would go crazy trying to change. So, she keeps the secret throughout that episode.**

**Thanks so much for reading. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Running Man**

**Daleks in Breakfast Food**

For the second night in a row, the Doctor dreamed. Indistinguishable figures whisked away old friends and companions, the nightmarish screams of the Time Lords echoed in his head and then the cruel silence took over. He preferred the screams. Daleks, shouting their favorite battle cry, plowed through the city, one holding a limp Sarah Jane in its grip, saying he should have never gone to her, because everyone who came near him wound up worse off for it. His fault. Always his fault.

He awoke to the sound of his own cries.

"Don't hurt her!" he bellowed.

In his half muddled mind, he heard the words in the voice of his old regeneration.

"Doctor?"

The door opened and suddenly the Doctor was bathed in light. He released his grip on the sheets and sat up.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to slow his thudding hearts.

She entered anyway and sat down next to him, legs dangling over the side. The Doctor glanced at the clock. It read 12:00 in flashing red letters.

"Your clock is wrong," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "The electricity short-circuited. Power surge, probably caused by your regeneration energy. It's back now, but the clocks are all messed up."

He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and aimed it at the clock. It read 3:25:23.45. Sarah Jane smiled fondly at the little device. She was a little less pleased with his modifications, though.

"Yet another thing to hide from the neighbors," she said.

Never one to waste unnecessary time (and that was why he'd taken her as a companion, because even a Time Lord can't afford to waste time) she continued.

"Are you all right?"

The Doctor nodded. Her eyes narrowed.

"I saw you last night, Doctor."

"What did I say?"

He couldn't remember much about the nightmares—good thing, too, his subconscious was loud enough as it was—but what he did remember was not pretty.

Her brow furrowed. "You screamed, woke me up. Then you started shouting 'No' and then you suddenly got this lucid look in your eyes, but you weren't looking at me, you were looking through me. You asked me to help them. Help who?"

"I was there," he said bitterly. "Fall of Arcadia. I was _there_."

She clapped her hand over her mouth and laid her head on his shoulder, her own shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

~o0o~

She hadn't missed the wild, almost animal look in his eyes when she came in. It had softened as the minutes wore on (and the nanoseconds, which she could now see fly by on her clock) but his eyes remained dark.

"I can't help it," she said.

"You humans empathize too much," he replied.

She laughed a watery laugh.

"And you stay with us anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

Silence, long and drawn out. In the darkness, it could have lasted an infinity. Sarah Jane allowed him a full minute to think, a personal record, before pouncing on the subject again.

"Your home…"

"Hasn't been my home for a long time. I've got the TARDIS—"

"That's not the same."

"Don't let her hear that," he warned.

The glimmer of humor was gone almost as quickly as it had come, but Sarah Jane couldn't help but think she had made a major breakthrough. Slowly but surely, the Doctor she knew was coming back to her.

"Go back to sleep, Sarah Jane," he said, nudging her off of his shoulder.

She left, not bothering to look and see if he'd lain back down. She knew already that he hadn't.

~o0o~

"Morning!" she said, a little too cheerfully for his liking.

At least she hadn't tacked 'good' onto the beginning of that sentence. The Doctor hadn't been this tired in years. Maybe even decades. It had been a rough regeneration.

"I was thinking we'd go to the library," she said, oblivious to his silence: that or she'd decided to ignore it.

He wandered over to the stove, where it appeared Sarah Jane was putting her best effort into pancakes. A majority of the batter had missed the pan entirely. That explained the smoke. She'd tugged her hair into a messy bun, not that it was helping much. Most of it still hung around her face. She dumped a misshapen pancake on a plate and shoved it into his hands.

He glared at it. "It looks like a Dalek."

Indeed it did, right down to a fleck of batter shaped almost exactly like an eyepiece. How mad was he, to see Daleks in breakfast food?

"Then bite its head off," Sarah Jane said offhandedly, turning her attention to her next crime against pancakes.

He seated himself at the neatly polished square table and stabbed the pancake viciously through the eyepiece. "They're weakest there." He'd said it a million times.

Without looking at him, Sarah Jane said, "I'll make the next one a Cyberman."

He smiled his first genuine smile in what felt like decades. Sarah Jane still didn't turn around, but she seemed pleased with herself. The next pancakes were an unsuccessful Cyberman and then a round TARDIS. ("Chameleon circuit," Sarah Jane had said, trying to pass off her abomination as a planned mistake.) The sonic screwdriver she made wasn't half bad, especially once she'd dug out an old jar of blueberry jam and added color.

"The library?" he asked, unpeeling his second banana.

Sarah Jane nodded, bringing a mug of coffee to her lips and inhaling the warm scent. She'd finally given up on the pancakes after she failed to make a single one that didn't taste like burnt rubber.

"The TARDIS has a library."

"I'd remembered," she replied. "But what about books you don't have?"

He just looked at her.

"If I can't find a book you don't have already, I'll buy you an ice cream," she prompted

"I'm not a child Sarah Jane."

"Need I remind you of—" she said, a mischievous glint coming into her eyes as she remembered an incident on Inteligonfurinthius.

"Right, then," he said hastily. "Library."

~o0o~

As much as it lifted Sarah Jane's spirits to see the Doctor bounding around the library like, well, a child, she couldn't help but worry. It was painfully obvious to her that a majority of what she was seeing was an act. There was no way a fully grown man, much less a nine-hundred-year-old, practically immortal Time Lord could get that emotional over the end of Charlotte's Web. She made sure to keep him away from a thick volume of War and Peace.

Feeling that she'd be safe leaving him alone in the teen's section while she went to find a winning book for the bet, Sarah Jane headed for another section of the library. Even Time Lords that could read at superhuman speed couldn't get through Lord of the Rings in less than five minutes. He'd have to check the appendix at least once, right?

She hurried through the library, ignoring the Languages section. Even though the TARDIS automatically translated foreign languages, she wouldn't put it past him to have a French to German dictionary in some dusty old corner. Likewise, she ignored all the classic authors. He'd met half of them, after all. After ten minutes of searching, she found the perfect book.

~o0o~

The Doctor set down the Return of the King. Frodo leaving Middle Earth for good had hit a little too close to home and he didn't want to risk another book. Instead, he perused the titles and recommended one to a lost-looking girl who mistook him for a librarian.

"I'd like to see you own this!" came a triumphant voice from behind him.

Sarah Jane held out her find, a children's book called _I Can Science!_ The Doctor just looked at it for a long, painful moment.

"She can science, but the question is, can she English?" he wondered aloud.

"I don't care so long as you don't have it."

They approached the checkout desk, Sarah Jane rummaging through her purse to find her library card.

"Did you finish Lord of the Rings?"

He nodded. Her face fell at his expression and she didn't say another word. The librarian gave her a strange look at the book choice.

"Do you have your card?"

Sarah Jane gave her purse one last cursory glance, then shook her head. The Doctor withdrew his psychic paperfrom his pocket and handed it over. Sarah Jane sent him a look that said 'You have a library card?'. The librarian scanned the paper and handed the receipt and book over to Sarah Jane. Together, they walked through the exit.

"What on Earth was that?" she asked.

"Psychic paper," he explained. "Shows you what you want to see, or what I want you to see."

~o0o~

She was more than interested in the paper. Paired with the sonic screwdriver, it would be a miracle if there was a single facility on Earth or anywhere else for that matter that he couldn't break into. Still, she reflected as they entered the TARDIS, she'd rather that power be in his hands rather than anyone else's.

Sarah Jane was too wrapped up in the book, which she had mentally dubbed 'I Can't English' to notice the changes to the control room.

"We've got a problem," said the Doctor a moment after they stepped into the hallway.

"You have no idea where the library is, do you Doctor?"

He shook his head, completely turned around. This time, even Sarah Jane could hear the amusement emanating from the TARDIS.

"She wants us to see her renovations," he said, raking his fingers through hair that was no longer as long as he was used to.

"Fine by me."

They wandered down the hallway, which seemed much more like a space ship then it had been when Sarah Jane had lived there. She was used to warm paneling and creaking floorboards. (Now that she thought about it, maybe that was the reason she liked her worn old steps.)

The first door they came to lead to a kitchen that looked as if it could double as a doctor's office. Everything was neat and white.

"No getting food poisoning in here," she remarked under her breath.

"I think my cooking skills might be gone," he said, examining his hands as if they'd reveal whether or not this regeneration was good with a spatula. He shrugged. "Takeout it is, then."

He cracked a small smile, and without even thinking about it, Sarah Jane took his hand. She didn't want to let go, because when she did, he vanished again.

"Next room?"

They exited the kitchen and stopped outside the next room they came to. Sarah Jane stared at the familiar wooden door, once perfectly fitting in with the hall of the TARDIS, now a sore thumb.

"You kept it?"

"Bigger on the inside," he reminded her.

She dropped his hand and pushed the door open to the room—her room. It was just as she remembered it, with pale green walls and a bookshelf nearly falling apart from the weight of twice as many books it was built to withstand. She turned her attention to the closet, stuffed with clothes from different eras. She'd always loved trying to blend in with local color. Harry had teased her for it, but he'd changed his tune after she'd rescued him from the equivalent of the police on Saquilistion. She smiled fondly at the outfit she'd been wearing for her next-to-last adventure, which lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Her bed was unmade, but that wasn't what caught her eye. Lying on the foot of the bed was a very familiar scarf. Tears pricked at her eyes as she scooped it up and held it close. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend she was twenty-three, having just saved the world for the umpteenth time.

~o0o~

The Doctor watched her silently from the door frame. He hadn't been in this room in years, since his fifth regeneration had returned to leave the scarf with her. He'd thought it fitting, and now, four regenerations later, watching her cling to it, he knew he had been right.

She finally looked up from the scarf, eyes still misty. The Doctor knew that look so well. Sarah Jane had seen him in more regenerations than any other companion (well, not _this _time period's Sarah Jane, yet), but she still missed the second of 'her' Doctors.

"I'm being ridiculous," she said, tossing the scarf down on her old bed. "Getting emotional over a scarf."

"Keep it," he said.

She smiled and picked it back up. Slinging it around her neck, she grabbed his hand once more.

"On we go?" she asked.

"Run," he replied, eyes glinting.

With an exhilarated whoop, she led the way down the hallway, which stretched on and on. The TARDIS hummed contentedly, the first happy sound he'd heard from her for far too long.

"Just like old times!" Sarah Jane crowed, turning to glance at him. "Well, no one's trying to kill us, so that's a step up."

The Doctor didn't want to admit it, but it felt right having someone running alongside him again. He couldn't take Sarah Jane with him again; it wouldn't be fair to her to be left twice. No, she deserved the safe, _normal _human life she'd been living. She was living proof that it wasn't right to have someone run with him.

Finally they stopped in front of the library, which the TARDIS finally deemed appropriate to let them reach. Sarah Jane laughed, face practically glowing with happiness.

"Haven't been here for a while," she said.

He was pleased to note that the library hadn't changed. It was the only room in the TARDIS that didn't. It was nice to have a constant, even if it was only one room.

Sarah Jane immediately set out to find the book she'd gotten from the library. The Doctor settled himself in front of the fireplace. A book of Gallifreyan fairytales lay open on the desk next to him, on a version of Little Red Riding Hood. He resisted the urge to toss it in the flames.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Sarah Jane morosely offered him two copies of 'I Can Science' one still wrapped in library covering.

"Why do you even have this?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Sale?"

She collapsed into the chair beside him with a huff.

"I suppose I owe you an ice cream, don't I?"

**Moral of the story: Never let Sarah Jane cook breakfast. **

**Interestingly, the Gallifreyan version of Little Red Riding Hood, when translated into English, forgoes the 'Big' part of 'Big Bad Wolf', so all you get is Little Red Riding Hood and the Bad Wolf. ;)**

**I suppose this story is slightly AU now that Sarah Jane knows about the death of the Time Lords, because she didn't in canon, but…oh well. I'll make it work. **

**Thanks to Guest (leave a name next time!), Dragonfire2lm, and Madam Rosier for reviewing.**

**Thanks for reading! Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Running Man**

**Gemini **

Sarah Jane watched him hover over the ice cream flavors like an anxious child, debating which one he wanted. He'd explained on the way to the ice cream parlor that his tastes changed along with regenerations. He honestly had no idea what he liked, though he had certainly enjoyed those bananas at breakfast.

She would have suggested that he get banana, but Sweet Scoops was a relatively small shop with only about six flavors. Instead, she watched him over the top of her cone. The woman behind the Doctor had a pair of impatient children whining and tugging on her purse. The Doctor glanced at him as if they were monsters that he fought on a regular basis and ordered as hastily as she could. As soon as the woman over the counter handed him his cone, he made a beeline for Sarah Jane.

"What's wrong?" she asked, patting the red booth cushion beside her.

He dropped into it and took a thoughtful slurp. Mint chocolate chip, she noted, not what she would have expected from him.

"I don't do families," he said shortly.

End of discussion. She accepted the silence and took another lick. The Doctor had a family, once upon a time. He'd mentioned them on occasion, but she guessed they had gone with Gallifrey. Sarah Jane couldn't blame him for 'not doing families.'

They ate their ice creams in silence. The Doctor's gaze stayed trained on the children. They were pacified the moment they got their ice creams, and chattered on about nothing under their mother's watchful eye.

"Mint?" she asked hesitantly.

She always felt like she was walking on eggshells with this Doctor, never knowing what would remind him, or hurt him.

"I've never liked it before."

He didn't continue, but Sarah Jane knew what he would have said. His past regenerations would have never considered a leather jacket, either.

"New man."

He nodded. Understanding that no further discussion was needed, Sarah Jane switched topics.

"How long are you staying?"

~o0o~

Not 'You can stay as long as you like.' Nothing about him staying put for good this time. Sarah Jane knew—no, expected—that he would leave. The question threw him off, though. How long was he staying? Sarah Jane wanted to know when she had to let him go again. He sighed. The slow path was not an option for him. It never had been.

"Maybe a few more days," he said, bringing his hand up to run it through hair that he couldn't anymore. He'd have to break that habit.

She nodded, a flash of disappointment crossing her face, replaced with acceptance almost as soon as it had come. She was silent as they left the ice cream parlor. The Doctor left her to her thoughts. He knew all too well how annoying it was to be interrupted mid thought. Beyond that, she probably didn't want anything to do with him anyway. He shoved his fists deep in his pockets, already taking comfort in the familiar weight on his shoulders.

When they turned on to her street, Sarah Jane pulled his hand out of his pocket and took it, offering a smile. A peace offering.

The Doctor had been to almost the end of the universe and back—more than once—but he'd never understand why Sarah Jane Smith always came back.

They had almost reached her front door when her neighbor's door flew open.

"Sarah Jane!" she called. "Tea?"

Sarah Jane lit up. The Doctor groaned under his breath. Tea with her elderly neighbor was not particularly what he wanted to do with his time, but if it made her smile like that…maybe it was worth it.

"Doctor?" she asked.

A little reluctantly, he nodded. Sarah Jane's smiled widened, and she tugged him across the lawn and up to the woman's front porch.

"You didn't tell me you had a…gentleman caller," she said, eyes twinkling.

The Doctor felt a prickle of unease run up his back. Whether or not this came from the woman herself, the insinuation there was something between him and Sarah Jane or the fact she was using a term nearly two centuries out of date remained to be seen. His mind whirring, the Doctor nearly missed the two women's conversation.

"Thank you, Dorothy," Sarah Jane said warmly. "This is the Doctor."

Dorothy's pale eyebrows shot up. "Do you have another name, Doctor?"

Testing his theory, the Doctor lowered the mental shields he'd been using to block the silence and reached out. Sure enough, another telepath was there to greet him.

_They call me the Oncoming Storm_

"I don't doubt it," Dorothy said out loud.

Sarah Jane's eyes flicked uncertainly between her neighbor and the Doctor. She'd always had a basic resistance to mental attacks, and the Doctor knew she probably heard the low buzz of telepathic activity.

_I thought there were no more Time Lords._

_You thought wrong. Why are you here?_

_I am not here to harm _her.

_What then?_

_There are people who would hurt you, Oncoming Storm._

_I'm not afraid of them._

_You shouldn't fear for yourself._

The Doctor froze. "Sarah Jane?"

Mistakenly assuming that he was speaking to her, Sarah Jane opened her mouth. He shot her a look and she closed it. Dorothy nodded. Without sparing the old woman a second glance, he grabbed Sarah Jane's hand and ran down to the TARDIS, thankful that it was only a short while away.

"She's a—"

"Telepath?" Sarah Jane guessed. "I could tell."

"And you couldn't before?" he asked, flinging open the TARDIS door and shoving her inside before following.

"She didn't make a point of broadcasting it," she snapped.

"K9 didn't pick up on anything?"

"He broke down about six months ago."

"I could have fixed him," he said, beginning to hammer information into the TARDIS computer.

"I didn't want…"

He angrily punched numbers and figures into the console, trying to figure out which species fit what he knew about Dorothy-the-telepath. Sarah Jane had put off fixing K9 (who was important to her safety, not to mention a companion in his own right) just because she thought a trip down memory lane would hurt him.

A Gemeni. Of course. He cursed under his breath.

"Stay here."

She didn't listen. She never did.

"Sarah Jane, they're after you."

She nodded. "Of course they are."

"Stay here, Sarah Jane."

"Doctor—"

He couldn't be responsible for another death, couldn't have another name to run through when he reminded himself why he still kept going. Much quicker than Sarah Jane could hope to move, he leapt to his feet and sprang out the door. He heard her enraged shout right before it shut.

"You left so soon."

He whipped around, hands clenched into fists. Dorothy smiled innocently at him, a perfect little grandmother. Someone wrestled his arms behind his back while another pressed a thick cloth over his mouth and nose. The world toppled around him.

~o0o~

Sarah Jane swore loudly and paced around the console room, arms crossed. She wasn't a little girl anymore. To him she supposed she was, but on Earth she was certainly was an adult.

"Let me out!" she cried at the TARDIS.

The machine attempted to calm her, but no amount of comforting hums would make her any less angry. He was in trouble, he probably needed help and she wouldn't past this regeneration to run straight into mortal danger without thinking about it.

"I'll go halfway across the galaxy," she threatened. "I'd like to see him manage human life."

She wasn't sure the Doctor knew what taxes were, or how to get money without raiding a bank using the psychic paper. The TARDIS hummed a little more insistently. If it were possible, she sounded exasperated.

"I'm serious," she said, punching random buttons and twirling dials.

There was an irritated _click _and the door became unlatched. Sarah Jane grinned and ran for the door.

"Thank you!"

The TARDIS gave a small note of warning, but Sarah Jane ignored her as she strode out into the sunlight.

~o0o~

It took the Doctor ten minutes to rid his system of whatever it was that he'd inhaled. His head was still fuzzy, but he was awake and he could take stock of his situation.

The rumbling beneath him suggested that he was on a truck—hopefully not a spaceship. He took a deep breath. It was a typical chemical used on the Gemini home planet, Castollux that would knock a human out for hours. Thankfully, a respiratory bypass system took care of the problem much faster.

The Doctor's hands were bound behind his back with two thick metal cuffs that bit into his skin. He still had his jacket, and even better, his sonic screwdriver. Careful not to make too much noise, the Doctor shifted ever so slightly, bringing his hands to his pockets. His shoulder wrenched painfully when the truck hit a bump, but he managed to slide the screwdriver out of his pocket and flick it to the on position. The cuffs loosened. He pulled free, and, in one fluid moment, leapt to his feet. His hand was on the door handle when he heard the voice.

"Stop."

He didn't even look back.

"We have your companion."

The Doctor chanced a glance over his shoulder, hoping with all his might that she was bluffing. Fat lot of good that did him.

"Let her go."

"Step away from the door and drop it."

The Doctor's fingers tensed over his sonic screwdriver, but Sarah Jane's voice rang in his mind. 'Don't go forgetting me.' 'Dangerous? Since when did I care?'

With a clatter, the screwdriver hit the ground. He took a few steps away from the door, glaring, hands in the air.

"Very good," Dorothy-the-telepath practically purred. "Come here, now."

This regeneration, more than any other before it, hated being yanked around like a dog on a chain. Slowly making it clear that he was still very much into control of his situation, he made his way over to where Dorothy was pointing. The telepath dumped Sarah Jane on the floor. Without looking at his captor, the Doctor knelt beside Sarah Jane and checked her pulse. It was slower than normal. Clearly, she'd used the same thing on her that they'd used on him.

"Let her go," he repeated, dangerously enunciating each word.

"Oh no, Oncoming Storm. You must pay for the destruction of my planet."

All the air vanished from his lungs. So that's what it was about. The Gemini woman wanted revenge for the death of her planet and most of her people. He'd feel bad for her if she hadn't kidnapped Sarah Jane. His companion was only human.

"She had nothing to do with it!"

Dorothy-the-telepath smiled. "But she has _everything _to do with you. Sleep tight, love."

Two copies of herself sprouted from her side. Her daughters scooped the cloth they'd used to subdue the Doctor earlier from the floor and approached him. He glared defiantly at him, but didn't fight back as they pressed it over his face.

~o0o~

Dorthotrixlankite, or Dorothy Wells as she was known on Earth, was not a bad woman. She, like the Doctor, had never been one to delight in violence. The destruction of her planet and her family in the Time War, though, had lit a fire in her chest that could not be quenched. She wanted to right the wrongs in the universe, beginning with avenging her true daughters (not like the ones she could sprout at a moment's notice.) This meant finding that last Time Lord, the Doctor, the destroyer in guise of a healer, and ripping him apart in every way she knew how. This began with his companion.

It was a shame. Dorthotrixlankite had grown to like the little human over the past few months while gaining her trust. Still, the Doctor had to know loss like she had, and his human companions were the closest thing the strange man had to friends.

She watched, bored, as her prisoner slumped sideways over his companion. Even when unconscious, he was protective of her.

"Mother—"began one of the Geminichildren.

"Never," Dorthotrixlankite snarled, "call me Mother."

A pair of soft autumn-amber eyes flashed in her memory and the Gemini flinched, immediately shutting it out.

"Should we watch him, Mo—ma'am?"

"Yes," Dorthotrixlankite said. "We can't have any escapes."

**Much like the Gelths of Series One, the Gemini were a highly telepathic race that were slightly more advanced than humans, enough to be affected by the Time War. Also like the Gelth, their home planet was destroyed in the fighting. Dorthotrixlankite, of course, blames the Doctor for the deaths of her children and is out for revenge. She just so happened to land on Earth in around 1950, and waited until she found one of the Doctor's companions, so this revenge is a long time in coming.**

**The name Gemini, of course, comes from the twin constellation—the Gemini race is able to sprout an exact replica of themselves from their side that will listen to them no matter what. **

**The name for their planet, Castollux, comes from the Greek myth explaining the Gemini constellation, the myth of Castor and Pollux.**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Running Man**

**Plans, Mistress?**

The world swam in Sarah Jane's vision before righting itself, like a camera suddenly snapping into focus. She sat up, rubbing the bridge of her nose. The insides of her nostrils burned as if something had singed them. A jacket fell off of her as she sat up all the way.

The first thing that hit her was the cold. It was absolutely freezing. She instinctively curled her arms around her knees.

"Where are we?" she asked.

The Doctor seemed smaller without his jacket. She scooted over to sit beside him and dropped it over both their shoulders.

"Freezer," he said.

"They took your screwdriver?"

He nodded. Sarah Jane had the feeling that he was keeping something from her, but didn't press.

"You should have stayed in the TARDIS."

She ignored him, instead choosing to survey the small room. It was indeed a freezer, a big one like in the back of a restaurant. The door was locked, but Sarah Jane was pleased to note that the door opened inwards. She hopped to her feet and began to examine the hinges on the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting us out. I learned a thing or two about surviving on the slow path."

She slid her hairpin out of her hair.

"You can't pick the lock."

She rolled her eyes. "If it was possible, you would have done it already. I'm doing something else."

"Where'd you get that?"

"Harry's Christmas present two years ago," she said absently, wedging the hair clip underneath the bottom of the pin on the hinge. "Industrial steel."

Sarah Jane removed her shoe and proceeded to whack the hairpin with it, driving the hinge's pin up and up. She removed the hairpin, grabbed the top of the hinge pin and pulled. With a screech of metal on metal, the pin gave way. She did the same to the other two and then stepped back to admire her handiwork.

~o0o~

The Doctor couldn't help but marvel at her. Little Sarah Jane, the intrepid reporter who'd stowed away on a spaceship to get her scoop had grown up. How many aliens had gone after her (or vice versa) that she would know a trick like that?

"We still can't get it open," he pointed out.

"When they open the door, we'll knock it down on top of them," Sarah Jane said, positioning herself in such a way that it would look like she wasn't there when the door opened.

It was a clever plan. Strange not to be the one orchestrating an escape.

"Have they said anything to you about why we're here?" she said, mistakenly thinking that the duplicates of Dorothy-the-telepath were individual people.

"She's one of the last Geminis," he said, figuring that would speak for itself.

She immediately sobered up. "Oh."

They waited in silence for the door to open. Nine minutes and six seconds later, the handle turned. Sarah Jane shoved the door down on their captor with a sickening crack. Dorothy-the-telepath crumpled, hard, on the ground, eyes rolling up into the back of her head.

"Let's go," said Sarah Jane calmly, stepping over her prone body.

The Doctor checked the telepath's pulse. She was alive, but he knew she wouldn't harm anyone else. Her quarrel was with him, not with Earth.

"Your screwdriver?"

"It's about time I made a new one anyway."

~o0o~

It took them four hours to find their way back to Sarah Jane's house, and by extension, the TARDIS. The warehouse where they had been prisoners wasn't in a place that she recognized, and there weren't any taxis around. When they finally found a subway, they rode it to a stop in the city and then took a taxicab home. There was no doubt in Sarah Jane's mind that the Doctor would leave as soon as he had the chance. He'd proved his own point about putting her in danger.

She shut the TARDIS door firmly behind her and settled herself on the jump seat. The Doctor tugged spare parts and other loose ends from the TARDIS to recreate his sonic screwdriver. Occasionally, he'd spout a string of what Sarah Jane suspected were swear words in a language she didn't recognize and the TARDIS didn't translate. She just watched him, knowing she'd likely never see this guilt-ridden leather-clad Doctor again.

"Sarah Jane?" he asked an hour later. "Get K9."

She looked suspiciously at him, trying to decide if it was a ploy to avoid a long, drawn-out goodbye of the type she knew this Doctor would detest. There was nothing she could do but get K9.

Heart pounding, Sarah Jane took one step out of the TARDIS, then a second, vowing to leap back in if she heard the engines begin to move. He wasn't getting away so easy this time.

Another step, and then another. She was too far away now to get back in if he started to move. She took a deep breath and broke into a run. She reached the porch in record time and wrenched open the door.

K9 was sitting in her hall closet, sandwiched between an old coat and an umbrella with a hole in the top. She winced.

"Sorry, boy."

She wrapped her arms around the tin dog's body and pulled. An avalanche of coats and hats tumbled down on her head. Coughing, she emerged from the pile, lugging K9 with her.

She exited the house, breathing a silent sigh of relief when she realized that the TARDIS was still sitting awkwardly on the sidewalk. She got a few odd looks from the woman across the street, who was watching her three children toss a ball around, but as usual she ignored them.

"I'm back!" she said cheerfully, placing K9 at the Doctor's feet.

He flicked his new sonic screwdriver into the on position. Without a word, he began to tinker with the metal dog. Sarah Jane took her place at the jump seat again and waited.

"Master?"

His face broke into a delighted grin. "How've you been, boy?"

Sarah Jane crouched beside him and touched K9's head.

"Poor condition," he said. "Ineffectual repairs."

Sarah Jane put her hands up defensively. "It wasn't as if I could waltz into a hardware store and ask for a thermoelectric generator small enough to fit in my palm."

"Well, he's ready to go."

Summoning all her courage, Sarah Jane spoke. "You too?"

The smile slipped from his face and his gaze hardened. Sarah Jane rose to her feet and took his hand. He focused intently on K9.

"It's all right, Doctor. Big universe out there. Things to do, people to save."

A small smile escaped her lips as she looked around the console room, so different than before, but still so achingly familiar—just like him. She'd give anything to go back to when she could be in 1773 pushing boxes of tea into the ocean one day and then advocating alien rights in 4160 the next.

"I'll come back, some day."

She forced a smile. "I'm sure you will."

She let his hand go and headed for the door. Neat and clean, just like the last time. To her surprise, he followed her.

"What'll you do?"

"Right now? Sleep. Then find a good relator. Dorothy's not coming back any time soon. After that? Let adventure find me. I've learned from the best, you know."

He held the door open for her, the perfect time-travelling alien gentleman. She stepped out on to the pavement, not feeling sadness but just a strange sort of emptiness. He stood in the doorway, hands shoved deep in his pockets, staring out into the street.

The Doctor didn't ask. She didn't press. Her days of gallivanting around the universe were over.

"Well then, I suppose this is goodbye," she said stiffly.

He opened his arms and stepped out of the doorway. She closed her eyes and hugged him.

"See you around, Sarah Jane," he said.

Giving her shoulders a quick squeeze, he released her and stepped back into the relative safety of the TARDIS.

"Why can't you ever just say goodbye?" she asked, the words sticking in her throat.

He chuckled. "But Sarah Jane, it isn't goodbye."

With that, he closed the door. She stared at the blue box that could show her the universe and fought the urge to reach for it as it disappeared.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Plans, Mistress?" asked K9, swiveling his neck to look up at her.

Sarah Jane took a deep breath and stared up at the clouds, wishing she could see the stars.

"Trouble usually finds me," she said.

As big as the universe was, she still had an entire world to explore, a world she'd been ignoring while dreaming about the stars.

"Jeopardy friendly," K9 said, repeating a phrase he'd heard hundreds of times before.

"Absolutely."

She headed back for her house, K9 motoring along at her heels.

**That's it for her time with Nine. A few years after this chapter, she's transported into another adventure in the form of the story The Five Doctors, where she meets One, Two and Five for the first time and meets Three and Four again. Of course, to preserve the timelines, she never tells them about the Time War, though she sincerely wishes she could.**

**Please review! **


	5. Chapter 5

**The Running Man**

**Rose**

It was times like these that Sarah Jane was glad she was a reporter. It gave her an easy excuse to get in places normal people were not allowed and get inside looks where otherwise she wouldn't.

"You want to interview me, you say?" asked the headmaster, looking genuinely surprised, but pleased.

"Oh yes," she replied. "Your test scores with the students are simply incredible! I'm very impressed."

That was a word. Impressed, yes, but also suspicious. Strange things always grabbed her attention. Sarah Jane had learned to trust her instincts where aliens were concerned. Whether her knack for picking up on odd activity was natural or developed from spending time with the Doctor, she didn't know.

"Tell me about your work here," she said, turning her head a fraction of an inch to look inside a classroom.

Finch moved back ever so slightly, obscuring her view. She continued to walk, as if she hadn't noticed.

"Our work here," he said excitedly. "My improvements aren't confined to the classroom. Oh no, no, no, no, no. We've introduced a new policy. School dinners are completely free, but compulsory."

Sarah Jane made a mental note to check out the kitchens at the first available opportunity.

"Do try the chips," he finished.

"Oh, I'd love to," she lied. "Thank you. And it's got to be said, the transformation you've brought around is amazing. I mean, maybe you're working the children a bit too hard now and then, but I think good results, they're more important than anything."

"Exactly," Finch said, pleased that someone else agreed with him. "You're a woman of vision, Miss Smith."

"Oh, I can see everything, Mr. Finch. Quite clearly."

They entered the cafeteria, empty for the moment except for a few of the kitchen staff. One, a blonde, looked up for a second before dropping her gaze back down to the mess she was cleaning up.

"Chips?" asked Finch, holding out a tray.

Sarah Jane accepted one, and while the man's back was turned, tossed it over her shoulder into the pile on the floor the blonde was cleaning. The other woman bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Excellent," she told Finch when he turned his attention back to her. "May I speak to some of the other staff?"

"Of course, Miss Smith."

Finch kept up a brisk pace as they walked towards the staff room. This stopped any snooping on Sarah Jane's behalf, though she did notice a hint of green light coming from the crack under one of the classroom's door. That would be something to check out when she came back uninvited.

"Excuse me, colleagues. A moment of your time. May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith? Miss Smith is a journalist who is writing a profile on me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful to her to get a view from the trenches so to speak. Don't spare my blushes."

Sarah Jane very nearly rolled her eyes. He thought it might be useful, indeed! Finch was one of those men (aliens?) who stole credit when it suited him, even for something as stupid as a reporter suggesting a talk with his teachers.

"Hello," she said, approaching the tall man with unruly hair.

There was something about him that drew her to him first. He just stared at her for a long, almost star struck second before answering.

"Oh, I should think so."

"And you are?"

He seemed familiar in a way she couldn't place, as if he had been in an advert on the telly.

"Hmm?" he asked, still totally distracted. "Er, Smith. John Smith."

John Smith. She offered a wry smile. He managed to follow her, even when she hadn't seen him in nearly three decades.

"John Smith. I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name."

"Well, it's a very common name," he said.

Common. Her Doctor was anything but. Perhaps that's why he had always chosen the name. It gave him a simple façade to wear that he couldn't anywhere else. His name was known all over the universe.

"He was a very uncommon man," she said, staring fondly into the distance. Right. Down to business. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant!"

If she didn't know any better, she'd say the man was in love with her, a thought she found a little more than uncomfortable.

"Er, so, er." Way to start, Sarah Jane. "Have you worked here long?"

"No," said John. "Er, it's only my second day."

She deflated a little. There'd be no point to questioning him if he hadn't been around a while. At least it explained the twitchiness. Not many second day teachers were submitted to questioning about their work.

"Oh, you're new then? So what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

John leaned a little closer, as if he was about divulge a secret.

"You don't sound like someone doing a profile," he observed.

"Well, no harm in doing a little investigation while I'm here."

"No, good for you."

She gave him an odd look and walked off to speak with some of the other teachers.

~o0o~

Of all the reporters in the world, it had to be Sarah Jane. The Doctor knew it was no accident. Sarah Jane had a knack for being in precisely the right place at the right time—or the wrong place and time, depending on how you looked at it. It hadn't been long since he'd seen her, just over a year of his subjective timeline, but it had been far, far longer for her. His fifth regeneration had been the last one she ran into…when? 1983, in her timeline? Yes, that was it. Too long, and he would never visit, at least not in this regeneration.

He sipped his coffee—horrible stuff, coffee, but the break room didn't have anything else—and joked with Parson, his eyes wandering over to Sarah Jane every so often.

"Got a fancy there, John?" the other man teased.

"I know her from somewhere, I think," he said.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. She hadn't changed at all. Still running directly into trouble. Still sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Still his Sarah Jane.

~o0o~

"I'm getting too old for this," Sarah Jane muttered under her breath.

She shoved open the window and swung one leg inside, then the next. Just your average unauthorized night investigation. Switching on her handheld recorder, Sarah Jane exited the classroom and made her way into the hallway.

Where was that room? She retraced her steps mentally, but before she could finish, there was a loud noise behind her. Not wasting any time, Sarah Jane broke into a run, feet slapping on the ground. She threw open a large red door and took two steps inside.

Her jaw dropped. The recorder clattered to the floor. Silently shaking her head, she backed up a few paces, mind reeling. She had to be hallucinating, dreaming, something! It wasn't the TARDIS, it couldn't be!

"Hello, Sarah Jane."

Her heart stopped. A new voice, a new face, a new man to file away under the same name. Fighting back a swell of tears, wondering if she'd have to hide the fate of Gallifrey from him again, she responded.

"It's you," she said dazedly. "Oh, Doctor. Oh my God, it's you. You've regenerated!"

"Yeah. Half a dozen times since we last met."

She smiled, a little pleased he'd bothered to tell her in her own subjective timeline. Ten, then. The number fit him.

"You look…" Oh, what was she supposed to say? "…incredible."

He looked more than that. He was happy, and only a regeneration past the Doctor who'd shown up on her doorstep, fire inside and out.

"So do you," he said.

She shook her head. "I got old." Then, true to her reporting nature, she went straight to the point. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," he said, stretching out the L, "UFO sightings, school gets record results, I couldn't resist. What about you?"

"The same," she replied, barely able to contain a grin. Then she sobered up. "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back and I thought you must have died."

His gaze hardened.

"I lived. Everyone else died."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Everyone died, Sarah."

She shook her head as she regarded him. So much different than his ninth incarnation. What had saved him?

"I can't believe it's you."

A scream split the air. Her eyes lit up.

"Okay, now I can," she said, exhilarated by the idea of a new adventure.

A blonde girl ran up to the Doctor, a little panicked. She had been working in the kitchens! Sarah Jane frowned. She didn't doubt that the Doctor had taken many companions since herself, but it still hurt to come face to face.

"Did you hear that?" Her brown eyes found Sarah Jane. "Who's she?"

"Rose, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, Rose," said the Doctor, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Hi. Nice to meet you," she said to Rose. "You can tell you're getting older. Your assistants are getting younger."

Rose flared up at the word assistant. Sarah Jane barely concealed a smirk. A little voice in the back of her head told her not to act like a child, but she silenced it.

"I'm not his assistant!" she said indignantly.

"No?" Sarah Jane asked teasingly. "Get you, tiger."

They ran in the direction of the scream. Sarah Jane desperately hoped it wasn't one of the children, but as it happened, she didn't have anything to worry about. The man—well, boy, really—who had screamed was about Rose's age, and definitely didn't look like he could have made that noise.

"Sorry! Sorry, it was only me,' he said, having the good grace to look sheepish. "You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of those cupboards and all those fell on me."

Rose knelt down and scooped one of the bags up, brow furrowed.

"Oh my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats."

The Doctor smirked at the boy, who glared back. Sarah Jane looked suspiciously between him and Rose, beginning to piece together the puzzle. Well, he _was_ getting younger each regeneration…

"And you decided to scream," he said.

"It took me by surprise!" he protested.

"Like a little girl," said the Doctor, continuing as if he hadn't heard him.

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Hello, can we focus? Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?"

Sarah Jane, of course, saw nothing wrong with it. She and several other students had staged a sit-in when she was seventeen to protest using dead rats in experiments.

"Well, obviously, they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them." Sensing an opportunity, she kept going. "Or, maybe, you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?"

To her credit, Rose didn't even bat an eyelash. "Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that in years. Where are you from, the dark ages?"

Before Sarah Jane could formulate a response to the admittedly clever insult, the Doctor intervened, a little flustered.

"Anyway, moving on. Everything started when Mr. Finch arrived. We should go and check his office."

Sarah Jane took the lead, seeing as she was the only one who had ever entered it before. Rose fell into step beside her.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything," she said, in a tone that certainly _sounded _like she meant the opposite, "but who exactly are you?"

"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor."

"Oh," Rose said. Something flashed in her eyes. Disappointment? Anger? Surprise? "Well, he's never mentioned you."

Not even once? It was one thing to be left behind, but swept under the couch like a forgotten doll you used to love but never played with much anymore? It had been a long time, but Sarah Jane refused to believe that he had never even said her name.

"Oh, I must've done. Sarah Jane. Mention her all the time," he said, a little too hastily for her to believe him.

"Hold on," said Rose, pretending to think about it. "Sorry. Never."

"What, not even once?" Sarah Jane asked, addressing Rose rather than turning back to the Doctor. "He didn't mention me even once?"

It hurt, even all these years later. What was the point to traveling with him if she was never even remembered by the Time Lord? He never thought about their time together? Or had he not wanted to tell his new companion that she wasn't the first, nor would she be the last?

Sarah Jane pointedly ignored him the rest of the walk down to the Headmaster's office. He didn't attempt to say anything—apparently this Doctor had learned a thing or two about when to keep his mouth shut, something none of his other regenerations had quite managed. Then again, she'd only been around him for a few minutes. There was more than enough time for him to slip up.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the lock. The door swung open with a creak.

"Maybe the rats were food," he mused aloud.

"Food for what?" asked Rose.

The Doctor stepped partially into the office. The others followed a little more cautiously.

"Rose? You know how you used to think all the teachers slept in school? Well, they do."

Thirteen large, bat-like creatures hung upside from the ceiling. Sarah Jane did a few quick calculations. Seven new teachers, four lunch ladies and a nurse, all hired by Finch. But where was the headmaster?

"No way," the boy croaked.

He turned on his heel and sprinted out of the building at top speed. Sarah Jane let a small puff of air escape her lips. Even Harry at his worst wouldn't have run that soon in an adventure. She, the Doctor and Rose followed him a little more calmly.

"I'm not going back in there. No way," he said, panting.

"Those were teachers," Rose said, apparently having reached the same conclusion that Sarah Jane had.

That bothered her more than she cared to admit.

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four lunch ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on."

"Come on? You've got to be kidding."

Sarah Jane recognized the furious denial that so many people reacted with when faced with something that didn't line up with what they knew about the world.

"I need the TARDIS. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen."

"I might be able to help you there," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "I've got something to show you."

Without even checking to see if they were following her, Sarah Jane led the way to her car. She'd thought she'd been mad, carrying K9 around all that time, but she never knew when the opportunity to fix him would arise.

She pulled open the trunk, grinning at the positively delighted expression on the Doctor's face.

"K9! Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark III to be precise."

"Why does he look so disco?" asked Rose, wrinkling her nose.

Sarah Jane swallowed the disdainful look she'd been about to throw the girl's way.

"Oi!" the Doctor said defensively. "Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge. What's happened to him?"

She shrugged. "Oh, one day he just…nothing."

She'd panicked, same as any other concerned pet owner, and attempted to fix him, but she had no way of knowing how the parts worked. UNIT had other things to do with their time then fix robot dogs.

"Well, didn't you try to get him repaired?" he asked, almost word for word what his previous regeneration had asked.

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro. Besides, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone!"

"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, hmm?"

"Look, no offence," Rose said impatiently, "but could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog. We're busy."

Sarah Jane helped the Doctor lug K9 out of her trunk and to the small café across the street. It was a longer walk than it should have been, but 'cutting edge technology' was heavy stuff.

"How have you been?" she asked.

Mickey and Rose had gone ahead, presumably to order chips.

"Brilliant!" he said. "I quite like this face."

"You're not the only one," she muttered under her breath.

He pretended to not have heard.

"And you?"

"Oh, the past twenty-three years have been a breeze," she said, punctuating the twenty-three.

He didn't look at her. "I'm sorry."

She softened instantly. "It's nothing."

Sarah Jane opened the door for him and the two made their way inside, ignoring the curious glances that K9 drew. She settled herself down at the table and watched him work.

"I thought about you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead? I thought, oh yeah, he's up there."

"Right on top of it, yeah," he said, reconnecting a wire that she hadn't noticed was out of place.

"And…Rose?" she asked slowly, telling herself it didn't matter.

"She was there, too," he said.

He chewed on the inside of his lip as he considered K9, head cocked to the side like a curious dog.

"Did I do something wrong, because you never came back for me." she asked, finally having a chance to ask the question that had been nagging at her for twenty-three years. "You just dumped me."

"I told you. I was called home, and in those days, humans weren't allowed."

His voice warbled a little on the word home. She frowned. Nothing had prevented him from coming to get her directly after the trouble finished.

"I waited for you. I missed you."

"Oh, you didn't need me."

Her frown deepened.

"You were getting on with your life."

"You were my life. You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?" she asked, her voice rising a notch.

She'd been sitting on that retort for so many years, going over it in her head whenever he crossed her mind, perfecting it. For someone who loved words as much as she did, it was important that she got every one right.

"All those things you saw, do you want me to apologize for that?" he asked.

"No, but we get a taste of that splendor and then we have to go back."

For the first time, she felt bad for Rose. The poor girl had no idea what was coming for her. If her instincts were right, she and the Doctor were far more than just companions. It would be a thousand times worse. She was vouching for Rose.

"Look at you, you're investigating. You found that school. You're doing what we always did."

"You could have come back."

"I couldn't."

"Why not?"

Silence. He resumed his tinkering with K9, avoiding her gaze. She settled back into the chair, observing him in a new light. He'd never kept things from her before.

"It wasn't Croydon. Where you dropped me off? It wasn't Croydon."

She'd been waiting for _years _to comment on his piloting skills.

"Where was it?"

"Aberdeen."

"Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?"

She gave him a look that said quite clearly 'You need to brush up on your map skills, Time Lord.' K9 came back to life, saving him from having to respond.

"Oh hey, now we're in business."

"Master," K9 said.

"He recognizes me!" the Doctor said, drawing a few strange glances from the other café patrons.

"Affirmative."

"Rose, give us the oil," he said.

The girl walked over from the counter and handed him a test tube filled with a thick, yellow oil. Sarah Jane wrinkled her nose.

"I wouldn't touch it, though," Rose advised. "The dinner lady got all scorched."

"I'm no dinner lady," said the Doctor. He paused, and considered the statement. "And I don't often say that."

He unscrewed the top of the container and stuck his finger inside. Sarah Jane watched carefully, in case he was about to start screaming about burns. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be toxic to Time Lords. He smeared it on K9's probe.

"Oil. Ex ex ex extract. Ana ana analysing."

Sarah Jane grinned. It was nice to see something familiar from her travels with the Doctor.

"Listen to him, man. That's a voice," Mickey said.

"Careful, that's my dog," she reprimanded lightly.

"Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil."

"They're Krillitanes," breathed the Doctor.

"Is that bad?" asked Rose.

It certainly wouldn't surprise Sarah Jane if it was.

"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."

"And what are Krillitanes?"asked Sarah Jane.

"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks," he explained, throwing in a human reference for good measure.

Sarah Jane nodded along.

"What are they doing here?" asked Rose.

"It's the children," he said grimly. "They're doing something to the children."

Rose and the Doctor stayed behind to finish up the chips, and Sarah Jane and Mickey made their way back to Sarah Jane's car, carrying K9 between them.

"So you and Rose…?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We…well, my truck can't travel through time."

She laughed, and he grinned.

"S'alright, though. He's a decent bloke." His face grew stormy. "I thought he was, anyway."

"Oh, me?" she asked. "We never—er—he looked much older than me when we traveled together and he never, er, we never had an interest in…"

Mickey nodded. "And he just up and left you?"

"He had to," she said.

Mickey didn't look as if he believed her, but he let the subject drop as they reached the car.

"So what's the deal with the tin dog?"

"The Doctor likes travelling with an entourage. Sometimes they're humans, sometimes they're aliens, and sometimes they're tin dogs. What about you? Where do you fit in the picture?"

She couldn't imagine that he stuck around in the hopes that Rose would change her mind. Even she, a near stranger to this Doctor and a complete one to Rose could see.

"Me? I'm their Man in Havana. I'm the technical support. I'm-Oh, my God. I'm the tin dog."

Sarah Jane repressed a smile at the annoyed expression on the boy's face.

**Poor Mickey. Sarah Jane's taken a liking to him, goodness knows why, but that's how it turned out so that's what you've got. ****. She clearly isn't a big fan of Rose, but she does feel bad for her, knowing what's coming. Thankfully, she's going to start acting like the adult she is, soon. Thanks for reading! Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Running Man**

**Promise**

"Why does he always come back?" Sarah Jane asked K9, pulling to a stop at a red light.

What a sight they must have made, her sitting in the drivers' seat, talking to nothing (from anyone else's perspective, anyway) and the tin dog next to her, strapped in as if he were a small child, taking in the world.

"Master always comes back," said K9 as if he thought it obvious.

Robot dogs weren't good for heart to hearts. It probably didn't help that K9 had a pile of wires where his should be.

"Sometimes it takes him three decades," muttered Sarah Jane.

"Irrelevant," K9 scoffed.

Maybe it was to a tin dog that had been out of commission half the time and didn't have a grasp of the concept, but it hadn't been for her. Not by a long shot. Sarah Jane briefly considered calling the Brigadier, but then he would probably want to get UNIT involved, and it had been a very long time since the Doctor had come into contact with them.

Still, it would be nice to get some sympathy.

What was he thinking, travelling with that girl? It honestly didn't bother her that he had taken another companion. No doubt he'd had dozens since she'd left. The fact that he cared so much for her did. Rose matched him, any idiot could see that, but she was so _young_. No more than nineteen or twenty. She had her entire life spread out before her, and the Doctor had waltzed in far too soon. Sarah Jane knew all too well what happened to a former companion of the Doctor. Up to their ears in abandonment, bitterness and danger. She didn't want to see this girl end up the same way. The way he looked at her, though…he wouldn't just leave Rose behind. She'd be taken from him, eventually. It was only a matter of time.

"Wrong lane, Mistress," K9 observed.

Sarah Jane was forced to swerve into the next lane over to a symphony of honks. K9 twitched what counted as his tail, evidently pleased with himself. Sarah Jane shook her head to clear it. It was no use trying to persuade the Doctor otherwise where Rose was concerned.

"I waited," she told K9. "All those years, I did nothing. I waited, like some silly little girl."

"Previous observations conclude waiting does not help."

It was the slap to the face that she needed. Waiting didn't help. She'd save the world, one last time, then get around to _her _life.

~o0o~

The next morning dawned bright and clear, and Sarah Jane met up with the TARDIS crew outside the school. Mickey gave her an awkward little wave, the Doctor greeted her warmly, and Rose tossed her a stiff 'hello.'

"Rose and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside. Here, you might need this," the Doctor said, handing the screwdriver off to her. "Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside."

Mickey's face fell, and once again Sarah Jane felt a twinge of pity for him. '_Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!' _Poor thing.

"Just stand outside?" he asked, looking torn between wanting to be seen as brave and not wanting to run into the bat-teachers again.

"Here, take these," she said, tossing him the car keys. "You can keep K9 company."

"Don't forget to leave the window open a crack," said the Doctor cheekily over his shoulder.

"But he's metal!"

"I didn't mean for him!"

"What're you going to do?" asked Rose.

"It's time I had a word with Mr. Finch," he replied.

They headed for the Maths room at a brisk pace. Rose was determinedly ignoring Sarah Jane, as if by not looking at her, she could pretend the older woman didn't exist. Sarah Jane ignored her, too. It was easier that way.

No one paid them any mind as they entered the classroom. Rose closed the door, and Sarah Jane got to work with the computer. Five minutes later, and she hadn't made any progress.

"It's not working," she said.

"Give it to me," Rose snapped, taking the screwdriver from her.

"Used to work first time in my day," she commented acidly.

"Well, things were a lot simpler back then."

Yet another Dark Ages comment. She wasn't that old, was she? Sarah Jane took a deep breath, and mentally reviewed the speech she'd put together in her head when she had been unable to sleep.

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?"

"I've got a feeling you're about to," she replied.

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding," she said.

"I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean."

"Right. Good," she said, feeling the little chat she'd had in mind collapse around her ears. The Rose in her head had been a little less stubborn. She should have known. The Doctor didn't travel with any less. "Because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."

"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?" Rose asked testily, stopping her work with the computer and frowning.

"I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth," began Sarah Jane, but Rose cut her off.

"The thing is, when you two met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you."

Sarah Jane bristled. 1974 was hardly 'just got rid of rationing,' thank you very much!

"I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe."

"Try me," Rose challenged.

Childishly, she answered.

"Mummies."

"I've met ghosts."

"Robots. Lots of robots."

"Slitheen. In _Downing Street._"

"Daleks!"

"Met the emporer."

"Ant-matter monsters."

"Gas-mask zombies."

"Real, _living _dinosaurs."

"Real, _living _werewolves."

"The Loch Ness Monster!"

For the first time, Rose stopped to draw breath. "Really?"

They looked at each other for a long, awkward moment that seemed to stretch out. Sarah Jane inwardly cursed herself. So much for giving her a bit of advice.

"Listen to us," Rose said softly. "It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor. With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, 'what?' and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?"

She smiled fondly, remembering a very different man, multi-colored scarf flapping along behind him, technobabbling away and expecting a reply the moment he finished.

"All the time. Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?" she asked, remembering the romance he'd always had with his ship.

"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?" Rose said with a giggle.

The broken awkwardness combined with the last comment pushed Sarah Jane over the edge, and soon the two were laughing hysterically, both trying to form sentences but failing miserably.

"How's it going?" asked the Doctor.

This, of course, only served to make them laugh even harder. The confused Time Lord lingered in the doorway, affronted.

"What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these."

His gaze lingered on the lack of progress while they just continued to shriek. Sarah Jane couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed like this.

"What? Stop it!"

She and Rose took a few calming breaths, and deftly avoided looking at each other for fear of starting up again. The Doctor's face relaxed.

"Thank you. Let's get to work."

Rubbing his hands together, he sprang into action, snatching the sonic screwdriver from Rose's hands and kneeling down beside the CPU to take a look.

He didn't have any better luck than Sarah Jane and Rose, so he began to mess with the wiring. The two women backed up to the doorway and just watched him work.

"So what did you do, before?" Sarah Jane asked.

Now that she'd established a connection, she couldn't resist finding out more about Rose.

"I worked at Henriks."

The department store? Sarah Jane tried not to let the surprise show on her face. She'd expected someone as level-headed as Rose to have gone further, done more. Maybe she hadn't like that before.

"How'd you meet him?"

"The Nestene Consciousness was trying to take over Earth," Rose explained. "It controls plastic, y'know? Not good news when you work in a store with loads of mannequins. He showed up just in time."

Sarah Jane smiled. "He tends to do that."

"What about you?" asked Rose.

"I'm a reporter," Sarah Jane said. "On a hunch, I got into a top secret facility using my aunt's name and the whole thing sort of spiraled from there. I was suspicious of the Doctor, so I snuck on board the TARDIS."

Rose gave a low whistle. "Did it still look like a police box, then?"

"Yeah."

"Weird hunch."

She nodded with a laugh. "Best hunch I ever followed."

Before they could continue the conversation, the loudspeaker jerked to life with a crackle.

"All pupils to class immediately. And would all members of staff congregate in the staff room?"

"Rose, don't let them in," the Doctor said urgently, returning to his tinkering.

Rose took off down the hall. Sarah Jane rejoined the Doctor at the computer, brow crinkling.

"I can't shift it!" he said.

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything," Sarah Jane said, leaning closer.

If the screwdriver wasn't working, there was nothing they could do. What on Earth were they doing to those children that would need to be protected from technology that wouldn't be invented for five thousand years?

"Anything except a deadlock seal," the Doctor explained. "There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?"

He struck the console in a bout of frustration, and miraculously, a series of strange symbols appeared on the screen.

"You wanted the program? There it is."

"Some sort of code," he muttered under his breath.

Sarah Jane could practically see the gears turning in his head. The code, of course, made no sense to her. She'd failed her Maths final when she was eighteen, and alien math hadn't even been in the curriculum.

"No," he said. "No, it can't be."

"Can't be what?" she asked, just as Rose skidded back into the room, breathing heavily.

"I stopped some of them," she reported.

"The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"The Skasis _what_?"

"The God maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

Sarah Jane swallowed. She'd seen a thousand times over that there was no species in the universe that could safely wield that kind of power. Even the Time Lords had fallen prey to it in the end.

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" asked Rose.

"Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer."

His eyes flicked over the numbers scrolling across the screen as he tried to make sense of it.

"But that oil's on the chips," said Rose, horror struck. "I've been eating them."

"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?"

"Two thousand and sixty five," she said automatically. Then, her expression fell. "Oh my God."

"But why use children?" Sarah Jane asked. Surely it would be less strange for an adult to be tired and ill then children. "Can't they use adults?"

"No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls."

The door reopened, but it wasn't a friend to enter this time. Finch strode in, a disgusting self-satisfied smirk playing on his features. It wasn't a good look. Sarah Jane's lips pursed.

"Let the lesson begin," he said sleekly, fixing his attention on the Doctor. "Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?" the Doctor challenged.

"No, someone like you. The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a god at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn."

The Doctor's face twisted, and Sarah Jane's heart wrenched. Sensing danger, she stepped in. She wasn't sure what his reaction to that kind of news would be.

"Doctor, don't listen to him," she urged, but he didn't even look at her.

"And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die," Finch said. Sarah Jane simply glared at him. Seeing that it wasn't going to work, he turned back to the Doctor. "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."

"I could save everyone," he said slowly.

Every unpreventable death was reflected in his eyes. Finch's smile widened further. Rose looked back and forth between the two, eyes wide.

"Yes."

"I could stop the war."

And for a moment, Sarah Jane could see the broken-in leather jacket and hear the northern accent in his voice. Fury bubbled in her chest. He didn't need to go back!

"No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends," she said, unwittingly echoing him.

Finch's hold over him snapped and the Doctor hefted the chair beside him at the screen. Glass spread everywhere.

"Out."

Sarah Jane and Rose sprinted out of the door at top speed. The running was something that she certainly didn't miss. Lungs searing, Sarah Jane pushed herself even faster down the stairs where they ran into Mickey.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Rose gave him the quick version between gasps for breath as they all started to run towards the cafeteria.

"Are they my teachers?" gasped the boy who'd been with Mickey.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "Sorry."

Rather than being upset, the boy looked rather excited at the prospect.

Finch, the only one left in his human form, gave the orders.

"We need the Doctor alive. As for the others, you can feast."

The Krillitanes dove. Sarah Jane ducked beneath a table as quickly as she could. Rose had the same idea, but she had to drag Mickey after her. He was frozen in shock. The Doctor lifted up a chair and started swinging desperately at the monsters, trying to protect them. The student gave a little whimper. Sarah Jane grabbed his hand to calm him, and also shield. A laser bolt flew out of nowhere and took out one of the Krillitanes.

"K9!"

They scrambled out from under the table and ran to the Doctor's side.

"Suggest engaging running mode, Mistress," K9 said, and had it been another, less deadly, situation, she would have laughed.

"Come on! K9, hold them back."

"Affirmative, Master. Maximum defense mode."

They sprinted out of the cafeteria. Sarah Jane didn't want to leave K9 behind, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice. Lungs burning, she dug into the last reserves of her strength and managed to catch up with the much younger humans (and physically younger alien) as they entered the physics classroom.

"It's the oil. Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it!" The Doctor cried. Sarah Jane smiled. She missed the eureka moments. "They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?"

"Barrels of it," Rose said.

The door crashed as the Krillitanes struggled to break it down. Even the modifications on the lock courtesy of the sonic screwdriver wouldn't be enough to hold them back for long.

":Okay, we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey?"

"What now, hold the coats?" the boy asked sarcastically.

"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?"

The schoolboy they'd brought along with them looked at the Doctor with a long-suffering stare before punching the fire alarm near the door. A screeching noise emitted from the speakers. Sarah Jane resisted the urge to pat the boy on the back. Very few people had the sense about them to pull off something like that.

They pushed past the struggling Krillitanes and ran back to the cafeteria to locate K9. To Sarah Jane's relief, he motored out to greet them. If he could smile, he would no doubt be smiling smugly.

"Master."

"Come on, boy. Good boy."

They wrenched open the door to the kitchens and dashed inside. Sarah Jane hadn't been living a quiet life, but this was utterly exhausting. The Doctor didn't even spare a moment to breathe before scrambling to remove the top of the oil barrels.

"They've been deadlock sealed," he said, pounding on the top in frustration. "Finch must've done that. I can't open them."

K9, as always, was quick to offer an alternative solution. "The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing."

The Doctor struggled with himself for a moment.

"Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me."

Rose, the boy and Sarah Jane followed orders and headed out the back doors. Sarah Jane lingered near the exit, reluctant to leave the Doctor alone in the school.

Only a few minutes had passed when he launched himself out of the door and used the sonic screwdriver to lock it. She looked down, but K9 was nowhere to be found.

"Where's K9?" she asked. His jaw tightened.

"We need to run."

"Where is he?" she shouted. "What have you done?"

He pulled her along beside him into the crowd of students; apparently Mickey had been successful at getting them out. Sarah Jane's mind was elsewhere, with a brave little tin dog without a heart.

The school exploded in a shower of paper that flew from the windows. The kids started to cheer, but she didn't pay attention.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's all right," she said, putting on a brave face. "He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine, really."

She choked on the last word and buried her face in his chest. K9 represented her life with him all those years ago. It was like being left in Aberdeen all over again.

~o0o~

An hour later, her car idling in the nearest parking lot, Sarah Jane strode through the park, the beauty of the flowers completely lost on her. Her eyes were fixed on the glorious blue box—gateway to the universe.

"Cup of tea?" The Doctor asked with a grin.

She followed him into the console room, which was back to the same simple design that it had worn during his ninth incarnation.

"You've redecorated," she said.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"Oh, I-I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do."

She missed the old wooden paneling and warm colors, but that wasn't him anymore, and it was high time she realized that.

"I love it," said Rose, fondly running a hand over the console in—Sarah Jane realized with a grin—a mockery of how he usually did.

"Hey, you," she greeted, "what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?"

Rose shrugged helplessly, and the Doctor mouthed seventeen-thousand and three-hundred forty-three.

"No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded," she replied.

"But you're still clever. More than a match for him," she said, realizing that she truly believed it. Rose Tyler was exactly what the Doctor needed.

"You and me both," she said. "Doctor?"

The Doctor grimaced slightly. "Er, we're about to head off, but…you could come with us."

The yes was on her lips before she even thought about it. For so many years she'd dreamed about hearing those very words, but her time for traveling was over. Besides, she thought wryly, they'd probably prefer to be alone.

"No. I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

Better late than never, right? She smiled tightly.

"Can I come?" Sarah Jane gave Mickey an odd look. She liked him well enough, but it was an odd request. "No, not with you, I mean with you. Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there."

The Doctor looked doubtfully at Rose, who looked as if her idea of a cozy evening had been stomped upon. Sarah Jane, though, couldn't help but vouch for the 'tin dog.'

"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board."

He considered it for a moment. "Okay then, I could do with a laugh."

Rather than looking affronted, Mickey just rolled his eyes. Sarah Jane gave the Doctor a disapproving look, but he ignored it.

"Rose, is that okay?" asked Mickey.

The girl's expression tightened, but she agreed anyway. "No, great. Why not?"

"Well, I'd better go," said Sarah Jane.

Rose came closer to say her own goodbye. Sarah Jane had a feeling that she knew what was coming.

"What do I do?" she asked helplessly. "Do I stay with him?"

She considered Rose for a moment before answering. "Yes. Some things are worth getting your heart broken for. Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me."

She hugged the Doctor's newest companion and waved to Mickey before leaving the TARDIS for the last time.

" It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," she told the Doctor.

He smiled, and stuffed his hands awkwardly in his pockets. Goodbyes had never been something he was good at. Sarah Jane gave him a warm smile to set him at ease.

"Something to tell the grandkids."

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now," she said automatically.

He flushed, and she did too.

"Right. Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't? There hasn't been anyone? You know…"

She gave a mischievous smile.

"Well, there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow," she said. "Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, it's not goodbye," he said offhandedly.

Her throat tightened. She needed to hear it, just once.

"Do say it. Please. This time. Say it."

"Goodbye, my Sarah Jane. "

He scooped her up in his arms, lifting her off the ground and spinning her in a circle before setting her back down on the ground. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

The Doctor set her down and went back inside the TARDIS. She turned her back. If she looked, she'd throw herself at the door and beg to be let back inside. The familiar whirring noise began, and the lump in her throat grew even bigger.

Finally, she had to turn around. It vanished before her eyes, leaving K9 standing behind it.

"K9!" she cried.

"Mistress," he greeted.

"But you were blown up."

"The Master rebuilt me. My systems are much improved with new undetectable hyperlink facilities."

The technobabble made her grin. Just like his master, that one.

"Oh, he replaced you with a brand new model."

"Affirmative."

"Yeah, he does that. Come on, you. Home. We've got work to do."

What a piece for the newspaper this would make.

"Affirmative."

And just like three decades before, she walked away from the spot the TARDIS had been with a tin dog at her side, promising to lead her own life at last.

This time, she was going to keep that promise.

**Thanks for taking this journey with Sarah Jane and I! I'm going to be back with a new Doctor Who story next week (no spoilers, but it's called Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds) if you want to stick with me.**


End file.
